History Main / StageNames

* Very common among Asian actors whose fame transcends the continent.

** Chavano Rainier "Buddy" Hield.

* Brian Pillman Jr. isn't a 100% aversion. While he uses his real name, the "Jr." part is kayfabed—[[Wrestling/BrianPillman his late father]] was Brian William, while he's Brian Zachary.
** Wrestlers who were stars in other sports often use their real names in pro wrestling, such as MMA fighters Wrestling/KenShamrock, Wrestling/DanSevern and Creator/RondaRousey, Olympic powerlifter Wrestling/MarkHenry, and Olympic wrestler Wrestling/KurtAngle.
** Because WWE regularly trademarks its performers' ring names, it's not unheard of for former WWE performers to use their real names in other promotions. For example, Wrestling/JackSwagger uses his real name of Jake Hager in AEW. Even the co-TropeNamer for DoNotCallMePaul, Wrestling/BigShow, goes by his real name of Paul Wight as an AEW commentator and occasional wrestler.
** Wrestling/{{WWE}} did a rather fun storyline on this, with ''Tough Enough'' season 3 winner John Hennigan being completely unable to decide on a stage name, and thus changing his name each and every week. He went through Johnny Blaze, Johnny Spade, Johnny Onyx, and Johnny Superstar before finally settling on Johnny Nitro -- which was intended to be a kiss-ass maneuver towards Eric Bischoff, the former architect of ''Wrestling/{{WCW}} Monday Nitro'' and then-current general manager of the Raw brand. Now, in his new gimmick as the second coming of Jim Morrison (lead singer of the Doors, whom Hennigan looks remarkably like), he's taken the name Wrestling/JohnMorrison.

** Brian Lawler went by Brian Christopher when he entered wrestling, to distance himself from his famous father, Memphis wrestling legend and current Wrestling/{{WWE}} commentator [[Wrestling/JerryLawler Jerry "The King" Lawler]]. It didn't work very well for a number of reasons (not the least of which is an extremely strong family resemblance), and Brian Christopher's lineage soon became the single worst-kept secret in wrestling history (and keep in mind, this is the "sport" that spent the better part of a century badly hiding the fact that it was all a show).

* Wrestling/TrishStratus was born Patricia Anne Stratigias and adopted 'Stratus' when she became a model. She did, however, keep the name intact when she became a wrestler - probably because she had something of a pre-existing fanbase with it.

** Greg Ginn was credited in the liner notes to Black Flag's ''My War'' under both his own name and "Dale Nixon", as an attempt to downplay the fact that the group was without a bassist and Ginn had to record those parts himself. The name has subsequently been used as a ShoutOut by other groups, either because someone in the band played multiple instruments or because the real musician couldn't be credited for contractual reasons: For instance Music/DaveGrohl was credited as Dale Nixon for his work on {{Music/Melvins}}' ''King Buzzo'' EP.

* Creator/JohnWayne's birth name was Marion Michael Morrison, although as it turns out he was called "Duke" (which was the name of a dog) long before he became "John Wayne".

** Tyrone Curtis "Muggsy" Bogues and Anthony Jerome "Spud" Webb, the two shortest players in NBA's history.

* Do you know how Vincent Edwards Jackson is better known as? "Bo" Knows (short for "boar hog", as he was a rowdy kid when he was little).

** Argentinian-born revolutionary and poster icon [[UsefulNotes/CheGuevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara]] acquired his ''nom de guerre'' during his revelatory 1951 motorbike trip. He and his travelling companion stopped off at a rural fire station in Chile and volunteered to go and fight a fire with them. In a South American version of CanadaEh, the Argentinian dialect appears to other Latinos to be peppered with [[VerbalTic "che" sounds]], so that's what the firemen called them - Ernesto was "Little Che" and his companion "Big Che".

* The short-lived 1950s Creator/{{CBS}} variety series ''The Real [=McKay=]'' was a footnote in TV history... but had one lasting legacy. The show's host had to change his on-air name to match the series title. While his legal name remained James Kenneth [=McManus=] for the rest of his life, he decided he liked his new on-air name. [=McManus=] went on to become a sportscasting legend, most notably on ''Series/WideWorldOfSports'', as Jim [=McKay=].

* Erin Grey Van Oosbree goes by her middle name Grey and married Christopher [=DeLisle=] in 1992 before divorcing him a year later, prior to starting her voice acting as Creator/GreyDeLisle by taking her first married name. While she's frequently credited by her first married name, in recent productions, she's been credited as Grey Griffin (or Grey DeLisle-Griffin) after marrying Jared Griffin in 2012.

* After marrying Craig Strong in 1999, Tara Charendoff began being credited by her married name Creator/TaraStrong.

* In ''Theatre/{{Chicago}} Matron Mama Morton mentions that Velma Kelly is actually her stage name (and presumably the same goes fort her sister Veronica). Nonetheless, she never goes by any other name in the show.

* Wrestling/{{Paige}} has an especially interesting story; her legal name Saraya is actually her ''mother'''s ring name (and her legal name is Julia), and she only got it from mishearing 'Slayer' at a concert in the 80s while high. On the indies, she went by Britani Knight, which her mother also picked, as Britani was an anagram of Britain. She herself hated it though, and was happy to change it to Paige in WWE, naming herself after Creator/RoseMcGowan's character in ''{{Series/Charmed 1998}}''. Notably the film ''Film/FightingWithMyFamily'' never mentions her Britani Knight indies name.

* The 1970s duo England Dan and John Ford Coley were also examples. After the duo split, the former went on to an even more successful career as a country solo artist under his real name of Dan Seals. The latter was a downplayed example, having been born John Edward ''Colley'' (notice the extra "L").

* In ''[[VideoGame/SonicStorybookSeries Sonic and the Secret Rings]]'', ''VideoGame/SonicRiders: Zero Gravity'' and ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'', Sonic the Hedgehog's voice actor, Jason Adam Griffith, used "Adam Caroleson", even though his real name is used in every other game. The dubs of ''Anime/SonicX'', ''Manga/OnePiece'' and ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' also credit him as "J. Griff".

* In ''Literature/EachLittleUniverse'', aspiring rockstar Benjamin Miles Parekh goes exclusively by stage name Marty Rook, and the rest of his band the Inciting Incident have all taken stage names too. Marty even insists that his parents go by Rook [[DoingItForTheArt so as to keep up the illusion]].

* Korean actor Kim Ji Ah (Gia Kim in English), [https://www.koreaboo.com/news/xo-kitty-siblings-gia-kim-sangheon-lee-different-last-name-reason/ whose real name is not known publicly].

* Robert Lansing, who starred in ''12 O'Clock High'' and later co-starred in Series/{{Automan}}, was born Robert Brown, but had to change his name due to the Scottish actor of the same name. He blindfolded himself, pointed to a map of the United States, and he pointed to Lansing, Michigan...hence Robert Lansing.

* Music/EltonJohn is something of an exception, as he legally changed his name from Reginald Dwight to Elton Hercules John (in homage to both Elton Dean and Music/LongJohnBaldry, the latter of whom he played with) before he became famous.